In the past recent years, many scientific studies have been published clearly showing that the various chemical products added to the drinking water supply for preventing bacteria growth may have adverse effects on the human body. In addition, certain types of additives such as those containing chlorine give an objectionable taste and color to the water.
These reasons explain the increasing popularity of mineral drinking water as a substitute for tap water. Mineral drinking water is commercially available in disposable containers of various sizes or it may be obtained from a supplier in large 18 liter money-back bottles designed to be used exclusively with domestic water cooling units. Typically, such water cooling devices are in the form of a cabinet with a support fixture for the bottle in an inverted condition supplying water by gravity to an internal reservoir cooled by a suitable refrigeration system. Cool water is distributed from the internal reservoir through a manually operated stop cock.
Although these bottle fed water coolers are convenient, they are expensive to use on a long term basis considering the high costs for the service to refill and deliver on site the water bottles.